


cladophora ball

by snowquail



Category: TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 19:29:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14754902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowquail/pseuds/snowquail
Summary: Meouch doesn't seem like the type for house plants, but then again.





	cladophora ball

When Doctor Sung opened the bathroom door and flicked on the light, Meouch sitting hunched over on the edge of the bathtub with a glass canister and several aquarium decorations arranged behind him on the toilet was not something he expected to see.

Meouch jumped and whipped around, eyes wide. He kept his hands squarely out of view, though, which was odd. Was he... _holding_ a fish? Or was it even a fish? Was he planning on _eating_ it?

“Uh.” Sung started, but was unsure of where to go from there.

“...Shit, can you uh. Give me a second. I’ll be out real quick.” Meouch’s tail was twitching, so _something_ was definitely up. Not to mention he was sitting fully-clothed on the edge of the tub with only his sleeves rolled up.

Sung thought about it. Something was up, alright, but it didn’t actually seem _too_ fishy, at least figuratively, this time, so it would probably be fine if he left it. But he was also wildly curious by nature, so. “What… what’cha doing Commander?” He shifted his weight to his other side.

Meouch’s ear twitched and he hunched over a little further, frowning. “Nothin’. I’ll be done in a sec.”

Sung took a couple small steps towards him, and leaned over on his tip-toes, trying to see what Meouch was holding.

“Dude.”

“I’m just curious!”

“Yeah, like fuckin’ always. What else is new? I’ll _be out_ in a _minute_ .” Meouch persisted. He wasn’t being as forceful about it as he sometimes was, though. And _that_ meant it was probably something he didn’t actually mind sharing, he was just vaguely embarrassed about it.

“I’m just saying! It’s kinda weird to be sitting fully clothed in a bathtub with a bunch of aquarium things with the lights off. Speaking of, can you, like - you know you can turn on the lights, right? If not for you, then please, for the rest of us.”

Meouch took the diversion. “Literally none of us need the lights. Hogan’s got night vision, Phobos is a moth person, and you have that weird... sense-y thing you do.”

“Well - yeah, but - it’s common courtesy, man! I don’t like having the shit scared out of me every other week ‘cause you won’t turn the lights on.”

“I mean. It’s pretty funny, though.” Meouch was starting to relax enough that Sung could nearly see what he was holding.

“Objectively, yeah, it kind of is, but still.” Sung inched closer while he kept talking, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. "Anyways, it - a _ha!_ ” Sung lurched forward, throwing a hand out behind him to catch the doorknob so he wouldn’t topple over in his attempt to get a look at whatever Meouch was hiding.

“ _JEsus!_ ” Meouch flinched backwards and tossed the thing up in the air, hit the wall, and then scrambled to catch it. He fumbled with the small green blob but then caught it with both hands and pulled it to his chest, slumping against the wall, still sitting on the edge of the tub.

A beat passed where Meouch caught his breath while Sung stood awkwardly, still at an odd angle.

“God _damn_ dude! I could’a flung her across the room, what the fuck!” He exhaled heavily again and then opened his hands to look down at what he was holding.

A small green ball of damp-looking moss, maybe two inches across, rested gently in his hands.

“What… what _is_ that?” Sung asked, perplexed. He knew what moss and algae were, but he was having trouble fathoming what the Commander was doing with some and why he’d mushed it into a ball. Oh, and why he’d been trying to hide it.

“Wait, have you… not seen one of these before?” Meouch paused and Sung shook his head. “It’s a marimo. A ball of moss that lives in lakes. It's my grandmother’s.”

“Wait, your _what?_ ”

“My… grandmother’s? As in, my grandmother had it before me?” Meouch’s eyes flicked away and then back at Sung, confused.

“OH. Okay. Nevermind, then.”

“Nevermind what? What did you think I said?”

“Nothing! Just. Didn’t hear the apostrophe ‘s’ there. ANYWAY. Uh…?” Sung trailed off and took his weight off the doorknob, standing up normally again.

Meouch brushed the surface of the moss ball with his thumb for a few moments. “Wait, did you think I was saying it was my grandma?” He grinned, eyes dancing with laughter.

“No! Maybe. I just didn’t hear you!” Sung muttered, faux mortification painting his voice.

Meouch snorted and finally relaxed, turning back to the tub, letting Sung come up gingerly behind him to see what he was doing. “They usually live in lakes but lots of people keep ‘em as pets, sorta,” He turned on the faucet and a gentle stream of water splattered out, “I’m kinda shit at taking care of fish, but this lil’ one’s fine. It’s way easier to keep with me, anyways.” He rolled the marimo in his hand under the stream of water, brushing miniscule pieces of dirt and debris off.

“Wait, you’ve had that with you this whole time?”

“Yup.”

“Since we met.”

“Yup.”

“Huh... I never noticed.” Sung looked half crestfallen and Meouch laughed.

“I don't exactly show her off. And she’s tiny.” He finished brushing the dirt off of the moss ball and bent around to grab the glass canister. He rinsed it out a few times, letting the water swirl around the rocks at the bottom before pouring it back out, and then set it down on the floor of the tub, letting it fill with the new water.

Meouch waited until the canister was about three quarters of the way full, then turned off the faucet and dragged the canister closer. He looked at the marimo for a second, gave it a last little brush, and then dropped it into the water. It sank, slowly and decisively, to the bottom, where it rolled around a little, and then settled.

“Huh.” Sung peered down into the canister, questions and wonderings already popping into his head. “I’m not - I won’t - _yours_ , but… where do I get them? A lake?”

“Nah, they sell them in stores ‘n shit.” Meouch bent around again to grab a lid with a small rectangle hastily cut through it and screwed it onto the canister before standing up. “I think pet stores here even have ‘em.”

“Hm.” Sung stood up and followed Meouch out of the bathroom, but stopped in the doorway. Oh right, he’d come here for a reason. “Oh! Hey, uh, sorry for intruding. I guess. Even if you did have the lights off,” He called, moving to close the door.

“Nah, dude, you’re good. Just remember to turn them back off when you're done!” Meouch was no longer in view, but Sung could practically hear him grinning teasingly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sung huffed and shut the door.

**Author's Note:**

> a cladophora ball is another term for marimo!   
> but yeah, i got thinking about house plants and this popped into creation. meouch's marimo is named Denebola, after the second brightest star in the leo constellation


End file.
